I too am a Harley fan and will soon swap my belovid draggy for a HD but these XVS650 are so good at being the simple little machines as they are it will be very hard to see her go.
Im 5ft 6, so i cant really say much on the height question, other that my mate (who is 6ft some thing) rode my Betty into town the other day and he said he loved it so i guess there's no dramas there.
Commuting on a XVS650, well unless you throw away the stock seat and replace it with a thin bit of leather then these bikes are flipping great at slow speed, and keeping your ass tender free. the only thing these are NOT good at as a commuter is white lining in heavy traffic unless the cagers move out of your way to get the bars down the middle.
As like most bikes the paint on the XVS and a HD isn't great so if left out side with no cover or other forms of rust prevention then you are going to be kicking yours self looking at flacking paint.